USPS puzzlers

[Myk Rian]

Some post offices around here have two slots, one for same zip mail, another for non-local.

Same at our PO. 2 slots. Trouble is, our village/township has 7 zip codes. The PO is in the village, where just a small percentage live.

[Bruce Wrenn]

Try sending anything, by any means, to Hawaii.

Friday this week.
Sent our grand daughter a package today. She will get it either Thursday or

[Bruce Wrenn]

Recently ordered a part from Ebay vendor in Fla on Friday right after lunch. Had it Monday before lunch. According to tracking, if USPS ran on Sunday, I would have gotten it then. Send two CC payments to Louisville KY. Third day they are taken out of my checking account. Send power bill to Duke Energy, in Charlotte (120 miles away) and it takes them a week to process it. But I can send letter to friend in Charlotte, and they have it next day, sometimes second day.

[Brian Bres]

I have had good luck with USPS and UPS most times. However, sometimes you get the short end of the stick.

Last week I sent a package to TX from NY. It was never scanned and was lost for 4 days. It finally showed up in NJ 4 days after mailing and then arrived in TX 3 days later. 4 days to the adjoining state and 3 days across half the country. Go figure.

[Martin Shupe]

A lot of priority mail, probably the majority of it, is shipped on FedEx planes during the daytime.
FedEx shipments go overnight, USPS mail shipments go in the daytime.

This has been going on since 2001.

There are fewer planes and cities served on weekends.

Perhaps this helps explain the 2-3 day service.

Ground is ground, you get what you pay for.

[Art Mann]

In my experience, the tracking feature of the USPS is not worth much. Most of the time, the first change in status is posted after I receive the package and it tells me what I already know.

[Curt Harms]

In my experience, the tracking feature of the USPS is not worth much. Most of the time, the first change in status is posted after I receive the package and it tells me what I already know.

It might depend on how most of your stuff is shipped. I think a fair amount of 'free shipping' or '99 cent' shipping is not carried 100% by USPS but rather by a 3rd party part of the way. An example is NewEgg.com. A lot of the stuff I buy from them is shipped via DHL then handed off to USPS at some point. The tracking on those shipments is pretty bad - unless you know to check a little known DHL website. Tracking on shipments carried 100% byUSPS is pretty decent for me though it usually only updates overnight. I used to get cases where the item was delivered then tracking would show it was delivered - a day or two later. I haven't seen that for two years or more.

[John Stankus]

In my experience, the tracking feature of the USPS is not worth much. Most of the time, the first change in status is posted after I receive the package and it tells me what I already know.

We have had one postman who sits and fills in the delivered tracking before he goes through the neighborhood delivering the packages.

Figured that one out after I got into the habit of checking constantly on delivery day after they delivered to a completely wrong house.

I was tracking some package I had ordered and it said delivered...couldn't find it anywhere. So I called the post office, talked to the delivery supervisor who put the delivery postman on. The postman said he put the package behind the third column on our porch... our porch has no columns. We have had several packages delivered to this wrong house (same number ...very different street name).

Understandably, I watch the tracking like a Hawk now.

John

[Brian Elfert]

A lot of priority mail, probably the majority of it, is shipped on FedEx planes during the daytime.
FedEx shipments go overnight, USPS mail shipments go in the daytime.

This has been going on since 2001.

There are fewer planes and cities served on weekends.

If I remember correctly airlines stopped taking US Mail as cargo on passenger planes after 9/11. I guess they were afraid the mail could have a bomb in it. The USPS then signed a contract with Fedex to haul mail via air. The crazy thing is the USPS put Fedex drop off boxes in most Post Offices after the deal was signed. Maybe the USPS finally realized their Express overnight mail is a joke.

The Postmaster General used to refuse overnight deliveries that came via USPS. I wonder if they take Fedex overnight deliveries now?

[Martin Shupe]

The FedEx drop boxes was a condition of the contract. I am not sure how many are still around. I am also not sure how much business they generated.

The deal was signed before 9-11 and had nothing to do with it.

Before FedEx took over, many smaller carriers hauled the priority mail, and the service was poor.

The USPS has been so happy with FedEx's performance, they keep increasing the amount of freight we carry.

[Dok Yager]

I live in very North Phoenix. Since moving up here from were I was only 6 miles away my USPS service is Horrid!! I have never ever had such terrible mail service. We had all temps to start with, then one guy who seemed to know what he was doing. I have had things come from Vegas priority that took a week. And things that were shipped from Chicago media mail that got here in 3 days.They constantly loose or miss delver my mail to other homes on different streets with the same "number" address.I have had packages sent from Amazon here in Phoenix take 4-5 days to get to me WTF. Priority mail is a complete joke anymore and express is a waste of money. I closed my Fed-Ex account because they went so high in pricing it`s unbelievable.

[Mike Henderson]

USPS service around here is very good. I send out packages via priority mail to all over the USA. Very good service - I can see the delivery process, and the package get to the destination in the time they specify. I can set notifications and they'll update me via text every time there's an update.

And if someone is sending me a package, USPS detects that it's coming to my address and starts sending me texts about the delivery progress. I don't have to go and ask for tracking updates - they simply detect my address and automatically send me updates.

Had much worse service with UPS. Lee Valley, for example, ships via UPS and it takes forever to get a package from them. I wish they would start shipping via USPS priority mail.

And BTW, for smaller packages, Priority Mail is about the same price as USPS ground. It's only when you get to big packages or very heavy packages that there's a significant difference in the prices.

USPS has come a long way in the last 20 years or so.

Mike

[Oh, and when the postal person delivers the mail, I get a text almost immediately if I have a package in the delivery. I really like that because I don't have to go check the mail, I get a notification when the mail was delivered. I wish there was a way to get that notification even when I'm not receiving a package. You know, "You've got mail!"]

[Larry Frank]

I am another one who gets good USPS service. I get Amazon packages via it in two days.

One point to make is the local delivery person. My front door is 100 feet from the street and up a set of steps. My carrier is a great guy and brings stuff to the door every time. Of course, he gets the max Christmas gift every year and I always thank him.

[Howard Garner]

My biggest complaint about the USPS is with UPS/FedEx/DHL and their economy service.
You know, where they drop it off at a nearby post office and the post office then delivers it.
Many companies that use this service will not take an order for delivery to a PO Box, and yet that is the only place I get mail.
Thanks to my regular mail route person, it usually gets identified and correctly delivered.
Then I try to add (mail to PO ox xxx) as part of my address.
Howard

[Bruce Wrenn]

Grand daughter sent wife a birthday package from Hawaii late Tuesday, (Hawaii time,) and it was here on Friday before lunch. Hawaii is 6 hours behind us, so that worked out to about two and one half days